Investigation of the cattle foods of California

nV^oilt Or CAUfOKH

BR/ H OF THE
COLLEGE OF AGKIC , "' r,, ■ ,

COPY

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.

AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION.

BERKELEY, CAL.

E. W. HILGARD, Director* BULLETIN NO. 100.

E. /. WICKSON, Acting Director.

IJWESTIGATIOJM OF TJHE CATTbE fOOQS Of GALIf ORIMIA.

Note. — Hitherto the efforts of this station in the in its essential features readily mastered by any in-

interest of stockgrowers have been mainly confined telligent animal-feeder who will give his attention

to the introduction trial and distribution of grasses to it.

and forage plants suitable to arid lands. This As Mr. Jaffa states, we need many more analyses

seemed the most pressing need, and was continually before we shall possess full data to enable us to give

enforced upon us by our correspondents. The satisfactory advice to those seeking to know what

popular demand has also been shown by the eager- materials they can use to produce desirable results

ness with which offerings of seeds and roots of most economically, and in what proportions such

promising grasses and forage plants have been ac- materials should be used in practical feeding for

cepted by people in all parts of the State. It has different purposes. To this end we invite

always been our intention to supplement this samples of forage plants, or field vegetables, in a

effort with chemical examination of all avail- green state, of hays of all kinds, and of millstuffs

able feeding materials in order that Califor- or other byproducts which may be available for

nians might avail themselves of scientific methods cattle food. Such samples should be sent by ex-

in selection and compounding of animal foods press addressed " Agricultural Experiment Station,

which have been demonstrated to be of such wide University of California, Berkeley, Cal." Samples

practical advantage at the East and in Europe, and should be of about five pounds weight, and should

have been so generally adopted by progressive stock- be accompanied by full descriptions of their nature,

growers. Owing to the pressure upon our labor- origin and market values. E. J. Wickson.

atory force and facilities by investigations in other

lines previously begun, it has not been possible, un- The great aim of chemical analysis of

tilrecently to enter upon this line of work It is fcedi tuffs in general, Is, to ascertain the
now hoped to pursue it regularly and systematically. e . *

The statement which is given by Mr. Jaffa in this am0UntS ° f the d,f3ferent Orients con-

bulletin is introductory to more direct applications tamed in the food; and the object of rational

of analyses to practical use which will follow. The feeding is to use the results SO gained in a

subject is in its nature somewhat technical, but is practical, economical and scientific manner.
~ *AbHent on leave, 12 moa., from Juns 15, 1892. As this is the first report of OUr State Ex-

2

periment Station on the subject, it will be
proper to give a brief review of the history
of such investigations and an explanation of
the terms used.

The first experiments in this direction were
made in Germany a little more than 30 years
ago, by Bischoff and Voit, in Munich, Stoh
man and Henneberg in Weende, and Wolff
in Hohenheim, and it is due to these men
that rational feeding has advanced to the
great extent it has in the present day.

The subject was first prominently brought
to notice in the United States in an address
before the Connecticut Board of Agriculture
in 1873, by Prof. W. O. Atwater, now direc-
tor of the Storrs School Agricultural Experi-
ment Station, Storrs, Conn., the annual
reports of which contain most valuable and
interesting information, and from which some
of the data herein given have been obtained.

In regard to cattle foods the German feed-
ing standards, and methods of computing
rations are in common use all over the
eastern States, and we trust that it will not
be long ere the same will be in vogue here.
But owing to the great differences in climate
and harvesting conditions between California
on the one hand, and the East and Europe
on the other, it becomes imperative with us
to make complete investigations of all the
different food materials as they exist here, in
order that we may proceed intelligently in
the making up of rations.

While chemical analysis and investigation
can do and have done much toward helping
and guiding the farmer and dairyman, they
cannot at the present time accomplish all
that could be desired.

Grave errors may arise by following too
closely the standards and rations set down
by chemical researches alone, without tak-
ing into account the local circumstances, the
individual needs of the animals and the pur-
poses for which they are fed, whether for
milk or for fattening for market or for work,
as well as the variations of the feeding stufls
themselves. Yet, without any knowledge of
the composition of the substance fed, the
farmer is not only in the dark as to the ben-
efit to be derived from the food, but is also
ignorant as to the actual amount necessary,

thus wasting at times considerable valuable
material.

Nutritive Ingredients of the Food. — The
sustaining of the animal body in all of its
varied requirements is done by the nutritive
ingredients or nutrients of the food, which
comprise protein, fat, carbohydrates and
mineral matters: the latter, in estimating
food values, are not considered, not because
they are not necessary, but for the reason
that nearly all food, no matter of what de-
scription, contains a sufficient supply of
mineral matter.

When investigating the amount of ingre-
dients withdrawn from the soil by the crops
from which the foods are derived, the ash or
mineral contents is the all-important part.

Protein, derived from the Greek, signify-
ing "to take first place," contains all the
nitrogenous compounds of the food, and
consists chiefly of albuminoids, such as the
albumen of the egg, the myosin of lean meat,
gluten of wheat, casein of milk, the gelatin-
oids of the bones and tendons, etc. Besides
the albuminoids there are other nitrogenous
matters, chief among which is the class
termed amides, which are found to a greater
or less extent in all foods, more particularly
those of vegetable origin.

11 In vegetation the amides appear as in-
termediate stages between the mineral or
inorganic matter in the shape of ammonia
salts, and the organic constituents or albu-
minoids. They are, on the one hand, formed
in the growing plant from the ammonia salts
by a constructive process and from them or
by their aid probably the albuminoids are
built up; on the other hand, in the animal
body they are the stages through which the
elements of the albuminoids pass in their
reversion to purely mineral matter."

" In germinating seeds and developing buds
the amides probably combine both these
offices, in being first formed in the germ
from the albuminoids in the seeds, entering
the young plant or shoot, and in being re-
constructed into albuminoids. Their full
solubility in water and their ability to pene-
trate moist membranes adapt them for this
movement. They temporarily accumulate
in the seedlings and buds but disappear to a
great extent as the plant matures, albumi-
noids taking their place, in which transfor-
mation they require the aid of the carbohydr-
ates." {Johnson )

The amide per centage of the total nitro-

s

gen contained in foods, varies from less than
one per cent, in some meals up to as much
as 40 in some of the green fodders, and in
some varieties of beets used as feeding mate-
rial, as much as 50 per cent, of the total ni-
trogen is non-albuminoid. The amides are
not considered as valuable as the albumi-
noids in their nutritive effect, in that they
are, similarly to the carbohydrates, con-
servers of the albuminoids.

The nitrogenous compounds of the food
are generally for the above reasons, re-
ported as crude protein.

The albuminoids (or crude protein) in the
different food materials are estimated from
the nitrogen by multiplying the figure for the
latter by 6.25, nitrogen being 16 per cent, of
the albuminoids. In England the factor
used is 6.33 in place of 6 25.

Use of Protein— The protein being the
only nutrient containing nitrogen, has for
its principal function the formation of the
nitrogenous ingredients of the blood, bone,
hair^ muscles, skin, tendons, etc., because
as far as is known no albuminoids are formed
in the animal body otherwise than by the
transformation of similar bodies presented to
it from external sources.

The protein can be transformed into fats
and may serve as fuel.

Fat. — The term fat includes the butter of
milk, the fat of meats, oil of seeds, wax of
plants, etc. It is determined by treat-
ing the perfectly dried substance with ether;
the extract thus resulting being designated
as crude fat. As might be supposed, these
ether extracts have different nutritive values,
the fats from the green fodders being of less
value than that from the meals and seeds.
Some authorities in estimating the nutritive
effects of food, give to all the fats the same
significance.

The use of fat is mainly for a fuel supply,
although it may form fatty tissue, but not
muscle.

Carbohydrates. —The carbohydrates, com-
monly called " Nitrogen Free Extraction ac-
count of their containing no nitrogen, consist
of starch, sugar, gums, etc. , and fiber. The lat-
ter, in the statement of the analyses of cattle
foods is reported separately, while the remain-

der of the above are, in order to conform to the
general usage, classed together under the
head of "Nitrogen Free Extract." The
gums play only a secondary part as regards
the nutritive values of foods.

The carbohydrates are transformed in the
body to fats and consumed as fuel. The
latest experimental evidence goes to prove
that protein, carbohydrates and fat may
directly or indirectly be transformed into
the fats of milk.

The mineral matters or ash of the food
materials consist chiefly of lime, potash and
phosphoric acid with varying amounts of'
sodium, magnesia, iron, sulphuric and chlor-
hydric acids, silica, etc.

These ingredients have important func-
tions to perform in the animal body and, as
previously stated, exist in sufficient quanti-
ties in all foods.

Digestibility of Feeding Stuffs. — The
chemical composition of trie food material
alone is not of much value to the farmer if
he does not know how much of each nutri-
ent for the feeding stuff in question is di-
gestible. In all focds there is always a cer-
tain portion of each nutrient which is not di-
gested in its passage through the body.

In order to ascertain how much is digest-
ible the food is weighed and analyzed before
consumption, and the animal excrement sim-
ilarly treated. The difference between these
two analyses is taken as the quantity di-
gested.

The results so obtained are only approxi-
mate, but in the present state of such re-
searches the best data attainable. They
are termed "digestion coefficients." To illus-
trate the above:

In every 100 pounds of the sample of alfalfa analyzed
there are 7.96 crude protein
1.40 crude fat
8.28 nitrogen free extract
36.12 crude fiber.

For this hay it has been found that of the

protein about 75 per cent is digestible, of the

fat 48 per cent, of the crude fiber 46 per cent

and about 68 per cent of the nitrogen free

extract can be digested. Hence in 100

pounds of the alfalfa there would be—

5,97 lbs. digestible protein
.67 M » *fat

£8 « " nit X nfreeeXtr '} carbohydrates

4

In a similar manner are obtained the re-
sults given in the table below.

For each food material the digestion coef-
ficients vary to some extent. For instance,
while about 57 per cent of the protein is di-
gestible in oat hay, 78 per cent is so in the
case of wheat middlings or bran.

Nutritive Ratio. — The nutritive ratio is
the proportion between the digestible pro-
tein or nitrogenous matters of the food and
the non-nitrogenous part, or the fats and car-
bohydrates. Thus, in alfalfa,

The digestible protein is 6.97

« " fat x 26" 1.68

«< " fiber " 16.15

« " nitrogen free extract 26.03

43.86

Forty-three and eighty-six hundredths di-
vided by 5.97 gives 7.3, which is the nutri-
tive ratio. When estimating this ratio the
figure denoting the amount of digestible fat
is multiplied by 2>£, because it has been
found by experiment that there is about i l /z
times as much heat in a pound of fat as
there is in the same quantity of carbohy-
drates.

Feeding Standards and Rations % — A feed-
ing standard is the quantity of food required
per day by the different classes of animals.
The standards commonly in use in this coun-
try are the ones adopted by the German in-
vestigators in this subject, notably Dr. E.
Wolff, by whom the following table has been
worked out:

POUNDS PER DAY PER 1000 POUNDS LIVE WEIGHT.

Total or- 1
ganic
or dry
matter. I

Protein.

Carbohy-
drates.

Nutritive
ratio.

Horse at average work.

Horse at hard work

Oxen fattening, 1st pe-

21.0
22.5
25.5

27.0

1.5
1.8
2.8

2.5

9.5
11.2
13.4

16 0

.40

.68
.80

.50

1:7
1:7
1:5.5

1:6.5

Oxen fat'g, 2d period-
Oxen fat'g, 3d period-

26.0
25.0
24 0

3.0
2.7
2.5

14.8
14 8
12.5

.70
.60
.40

1:5.6
1:6.0
1:5.4

Sheep wool producing
Sheep wool producing

20.0
22.5

1.2
1.5

10.3
11.4

.20
.25

1:9.0
1:8.0

Sheep fattening, 1st pe-

26.0

3.0

15.2

.50

1:5.5

Sheep fat'g, 2d period-

25.0

3.5

14.4

.60

1:4.5

Swine fat'g, 1st period..
Swine fat'g, 2d period-
Swine fat'g, 3d period-

36.0
31.0
23.5J

6.0
4.0
2.7

27.5
24.0
17.5

1:5.5
1:6.0
1:6.5

A ration is the amount of food consumed
by an animal in one day, or 24 hours. The
use of the above table in the estimation of
rations therefrom is a simple matter. But
this, and a discussion thereof, will have to
be deferred until we have a greater number
and a more complete set of analyses of Cali-
fornia food materials upon which to base
our calculations.

Potential Energy. — The measure of food,
as regards its fuel value, is made in terms of
potential energy, the unit of which is the
calorie or the amount of heat necessary to
raise the temperature of a kilogram of water
one degree Centigrade or one pound of water
four degrees Fahrenheit. Instead of this
unit we may use a unit of mechanical en-
ergy, the foot ton, which is the force that
would lift one ton one foot, one calorie being
equal to about 1.53 foot tons.

Recent experiments have been made with
animals in the respiratory apparatus to learn
the proportions in which the several classes
of nutrients replace each other as fuel for
the body. At the same time, experiments
have been made with the calorimeter to de-
termine the heats of combustion of the same
materials.

The results so obtained agreed very well
with those from the direct experiment with
the respiratory apparatus, and they also
proved that the different nutrients replaced
each other according to their heats of com-
bustion .

Prof. Rubner found, in experiments made
in the physiological laboratory at Munich,
the quantities of materials which were equal

to 100 of fat to be

Nutritive Substances,
Water Free.

as follows:

As Determined
by Direct Ex-
periments with
Animals.

As Determined
by

Calorimeter.

225
243
232
234
236

213
235
229
235
235

Taking the ordinary food materials as they
come, the following general estimate has
been made for the average amount of energy
in one gram of each of the classes of nutri-
ents:

5

POTENTIAL ENERGY IN NUTBIENTS OP FOOD.

1 Calories.

Foot Tons

In one gram carbohydrates...! 41

6.3
14.2
6 8

These figures mean that when a gram of
fat is consumed, be it fat of the food or
body fat, it will, if its potential energy be all
transformed into heat, yield enough to warm
9.3 kilograms of water one degree Centi-
grade, or if it be transformed into mechan-
ical energy such as the muscles use to do
their work, it will furnish as much as would
raise one ton 14.2 feet or 14.2 tons one foot.
The potential energy of the protein or carbo-
hydrates is less than one-half that of the
fat.

The potential energy is very simply cal-
culated by the use of the above figures. The
amount digestible of each of the nutrients
is ascertained, then for each gram of protein
so found there will be 4. 1 calories of poten-
tial energy, similarly for carbohydrates, and
for each gram of fat 9.3 calories. A much
more convenient mode of calculating the
potential energy is to estimate it for the
pound of the food used. This is done by
supposing each per cent of each nutrient to
represent .01 of a pound, which is equiva-
lent to 4. 53 grams. Hence in .01 pounds
protein or carbohydrates there will be 18.6
calories (4.53 x 4. 1). .01 pound fat will yield
42.2 calories (4.53x9.3).

Let us apply these figures to the sample
of alfalfa which contains 5.97 per cent of
digestible protein, .67 of fat and 42.18 of
carbohydrates. The potential energy for
the protein in one pound would be 11 1.04
calories (5.97 x 18.6); for the carbohydrates
784.55, and the fat in one pound would yield
28.27 calories (42.2 x. 67); the total poten-
tial energy in one pound amounting to 923.86
calories.

The use of the above data gives a means
of simplifying the calculations of the rations
when the sum of the calories and the neces-
sary amount of protein are known. The fat
and carbohydrates can replace each other to
some extent in any ration, that is, one may
rttrtr be increased and the other diminished, pro-

vided the sum of the calories of potential
energy remain constant.

In the table below are given the results of
the analyses of California cattle foods, so
far obtained, and also for the purpose of
comparison, the analyses of some of the
same food materials, taken mainly from Ex-
periment Station Bulletin No. 11, of the
U. S. Department of Agriculture, by E. H.
Jenkins, Ph. D., and L. Winton, Ph. B.

All of the samples of California fodders
examined were sent by Mr. W. P. A.
Brewer, of San Mateo, except the Lathyrus
sylvestris grown on the University grounds,
and the two specimens of wild hay from the
land of Mr. J. W. Shanklin, Lassen County.

In Bulletin No. 99, just issued, the green
fodder Lathyrus sylvestris was fully de-
scribed. It differs slightly in composition
from the sample grown and analyzed in
England, in that it has more protein, but
less fat and nitrcgen free extract than is
found in the English specimen, this being
due, in all probability, as has been stated,
to the different stages at which the plants
were cut. It is a very valuable forage plant,
and a better appreciation of its nutritive
value will be had by comparing it, in the
form of hay, with the first- quality oat hay.
It will be seen from the table that it contains
20. 16 per cent of crude protein, which is
about two and one-half times as much as
found in the oat hay. The crude fat per-
centage is also much higher, as indicated
by the figures 4 02 as against 2.80 for the
oat hay. An inspection of the amounts di-
gestible in the two foods renders the con-
trast still more striking, for the reason that
in the vetches, to which the Lathyrus
sylvestris (flat pea) belongs, the digestion
coefficients of protein and fat are greater
than in the case of oat hay.

There are in every hundred pounds of the
Lathyrus sylvestris 15.32 pounds digestible
protein, beiog more than three times the
amount (4.74 pounds) contained in every
hundred pounds of oat hay. The digestible
fat, 2.41, is nearly double 1.34, the figure
for the oat hay. The nutritive ratio is very
much closer than that of the oat hay. In
the Lathyrus sylvestris there is one part of

COMPOSITION OF THE FODDERS.

GREEN FODDERS.

Lathyrua sylvestria (Cal.)

Lathyrus sylvestris ( Kngland)

HAY.

Lathyrus eylvestris (Oal.)

Oat Hay, first quality (Cal.)

Oat Hay, second quality (Cal.)

Oat Hay (Eastern)

Alfalfa Hay (Oal.)

Alfalfa Hay (Eastern)

Burr Clover Hay (Cal.)

Wi d Hay, Kleocharis palustria (Oal.)
Wild Hay. Atropis Californica (Cal.)
BY-PRODUCTS AND MEALS.

Wheat Middlings (Cal.)

Wheat Midd mgs (Cal )

Wheat Middlings (Eastern)

Wheat Bran (Cal.)

Wheat Bran (Cal.)

Wheat Bran (Eastern).

Linseed Meal, old process (Oal.) ......

Linseed Meal, old process (Eastern)..

ORIGINAL SUBSTANCE.

Percentage Composition.

63.48
58.63

10.38
9."
9.15

12.18
8.44

11.25
11.55
10.10

11.29
12.3b
12.10

11.06
11.97
11.91

9 35
9.16

3.18

3.09

6.75
7 24

6.48

5.06
7.41

6.91
7.66
6.82

4.01
3.14
3.29

6.42
6.44
5.78

5.22
5 72

8 18
7.44

8.31
6.57
8.85

7.96
14.28

10.50
5 69
5.3U

18.33
14.43
15.62

15.49
12.77
15.42

29.7!
32.93

9.76
12.21

24.05

23.85
25.75
28.17

35.12
25.01

26.19
22.27
27.34

5.55
4.15
4.60

8.57
3.28
•8.99

6 23
8.88

MS

£3

is

13.77
16.58

47.91
48.54
44 71

44.92
51.18
4S.44

55.77
61.80
60.42

54.21
55.49
53.87

31.20
35.40

1.63
2.05

4.02

2 80
2.10
2.74

1.40
2.15

2.23
2.65
2.00

5.05
4.12

3.97

4.25
4.05
4.03

18.25
7.91

Amount Digestible in
100 Pounds.

6.23
5.r

4.74
3.74
5.04

5.9]
10.71

5

2 89
2.65

14.29
11.26
12.18

12.42

9.96
12.03

24.39
27. 0L

.93
1.23

2.41

1.34
1.00
1.32

.67
1.03

IJ
1.06
.80

3.48
2.81
2.73

2.93
2.79
2.78

16.61
7.20

5.27
6.59

13.94

13 83

14 93
16

16.15
11.50

11 79
11.36
13.91

1.39
1.04
1.15

2.14
2.32
2.2;

1.25
1.78

H 1
Ms?

II

2

t ■ i

. o -~

if

:?3

8.94
10.78

422
480

22.06 1.070

29.70
30.09
27.72

26.03
29.02

27. SO
31.73
30.03

42.94
47.58
46.51

41.74
42.72
41.47

22.77
25.72

954
949
968

92*
977

942
90C
901

1,231

1,262
1,

1,169
1,141
1,152

1,670
1,317

i: 2.4
1: 3.6

1. 2.7

1: 0.9
1:12.7
1: 9.4

1: 7.1
1:15 7
1:17.3

1: 3.7
1: 4.3
1: 4.1

1: 4.1
1: 5.2
1: 4.2

1: 2.7
1: 1.7

digestible protein or albuminoids for every
2.7 parts of non-nitrogenous matters, while
in the oat hay there is only one part protein
for every 9.9 parts non-nitrogenous.

A comparison of the analysis of the first-
quality oat hay (grown here) with that from
the East, shows a close agreement as regards
the ash, the percentages of which are 6.75
for California and 6.48 for the Eastern sam-
ple, the protein showing 8.31 and 8.85 re-
spectively, and the fat, the figures being 2.80
as found here and 2.74 for the Eastern
specimen.

The same general agreement is seen in
the nutritive ratio and potential energy of
the two hays.

As might be supposed, the second quality,
containing as it does more straw, will
naturally have less protein and fat and more
crude fiber than the first quality.

The percentages being respectively for the
protein— 8.31 and 6.57; for fat— 2.80 and
2.10; for fiber— 23.85 and 25.75.

We must defer making comparisons of
California alfalfa with that grown elsewhere
until we have more analyses at hand, be-

cause the sample analyzed consisted entire-
ly of stems and hence would contain much
less protein and fat, and show a far higher
percentage of crude fiber than would a rep-
resentative sample.

It is to be regretted that it was not possi-
ble to analyze another specimen in time for
this publication.

The burr clover-hay with its 10.50 per cent
of crude portein and 2.23 of fat, constitutes
a very fair fodder.

The wild hays, Eleocharis palustris and
Atropis Calif omit a, from Lassen county,
contain very low percentages of protein, 5 69
and 5. 30 respectively, but an average amount
of fat, 2.65 and 2.00 representing the
amounts found.

The nutritive ratios 15.7 and 17.3 are far
from being desirable.

There is very little variation between the
analysis of the second sample of California
wheat middlings and the average of 32
analyses of the same food material as it ex-
ists in the eastern States.

The protein percentages, 14.43 for Cali-
fornia and 15.62 for the averages, and the

nitrogen free extract, 61.80 for California
and 60.42 for the average, show the greatest
differences. The figures for the fat, crude
fiber and the ash are quite close.

The first sample of wheat middlings has a
greater nutritive value than the second, in
that it contains more protein.

A comparison of the analyses of bran pre-
sents a case of marked agreement between
that of the first sample of the California sub-
stance and the average of 88 analyses from
the East, as is shown bv the following table:

California
Sample.

Average of
88 Eastern
Analyses.

Moisture

11 06

6 42
15 49

8 57
54.21

4.25

11.91
5.78

15.4?
8.99

53.87
4.03

Ash

Crude Fiber

Nitrogen Free Extract

Fat

The exceedingly high per cent, 18.25, °*
crude fat in linseed meal, is owing to the oil

not having been properly extracted; it is
more than twice the amount, 7.91, obtained
as an average for the percentage of fat in 21
analyses, as taken from Bulletin No. 11 of
the Department of Agriculture.

The protein percentage in the average
is somewhat higher than the corresponding
one in the California sample, as shown by
the figures 32.93 and 29.75, respectively.

The crude fiber per cent, 6.23, and the
nitrogen free extract, 31.20, contained in the
California sample, are also lower than the
per cents found for the same ingredients in
the above-named average. The ash con-
tents do not differ materially in either.

It will be thus seen that so far as exam-
ined, where representative samples have
been used, the California products compare
quite closely with those of the eastern
States. M. E. Jaffa.

Berkeley, Feb. 12, 1893.